Shaky, to be sure. We had no intel mechanism at the time to penetrate the SU; civilian intel was non existent and mil intel was chasing escaping Nazis. I suspect it was sort of a lingering General Patton mentality re: the USSR.
As you imply, it was similar to Op Paperclip thinking: we had no missile program and Stalin was grabbing German scientists as fast as he could get them. They were likely stopgap measures until some certain people could rattle Washington's cage to wake up to what was beyond the joy of Victory in Europe... They turned out to be longer programs than stopgap, eh?
mark
They turned out to be longer programs than stopgap, eh?
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True that.
#TheyTookOver